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Spring Triad Draws Thousands to USAO

Thursday, April 13, 2006

Morning winds and rain couldn’t stop more than 2,000 area students from flocking to the University of Science and Arts for the annual Spring Triad event. The Triad, composed of the Montmartre Chalk Art Contest, Scholastic Meet and Droverstock music festival, drew students from nearly 80 schools across the state to the USAO campus April 6.

The chalk art contest yielded more than 300 colorful pieces of new artwork by 733 artists in the span of four hours. Subjects ranged from abstract figures to faces, fish and fantasy-themed creatures and places. Cartoon characters, spiritual icons and celebrity impressions made appearances as well. Hundreds of images from the event are available online under the Photo Fun section at www.usao.edu/news.

More than 800 students representing nearly 50 communities competed in the Scholastic Meet. In its 26th year, the meet presented testing in two dozen categories and awarded the top five students in each. Four high schools took home trophies for having the most students win awards in the meet.

Mustang High School won first place for academic achievements, followed by Moore at second place. Lawton High School scored third place and Rush Springs took small school honorable mention. A full listing of individual awards, plus school awards and photos, for the Scholastic Meet is available online at www.usao.edu/scholastic06.

Dr. Darryel Reigh, coordinator of the Scholastic Meet, was mindful of all who made the Triad a success. “The cooperative spirit of the students, staff, faculty and administration that is necessary for this event to occur demonstrates again why USAO is such a special institution,” he said. “The [Triad] creates an impression of USAO for the students and sponsors who attend the events that clearly represents why a student should attend USAO.”

Droverstock offered live music, student club booths, food stands and various activities for approximately 2,200 guests throughout the day. Live bands Jeremiah’s Bridge, Mr. Evans vs. The World, Burtschi Brothers and several others provided a musical backdrop during the activities.

In the Montmartre Chalk Art Contest, two pieces tied for the Best of Show prize. Cynthia Alvarez and Alex Gerasimov of Western Oklahoma State College took the award with their piece “Woman.” Andy Myers, USAO alumnus (2005), won for his “Portrait of Leah.”

Judges Choice awards were given for four different age groups.

The college/adult division award went out to Chickasha High School teacher Carrie Brown for “Landscape.” USAO art students Chris Castor, junior from Woodward, and Katie Ratliff, freshman from Washington, tied with their collaborative work, “Face.”

The high school division awarded five pieces. Altus High School student Vivian Briones won for “Indian Face,” as well as fellow classmates Reagan Vaughan for “Face, Red Glasses, Blue Hat” and Jared Speer for “Portrait, Glasses, Cigar.” Hillary Shipley and Robert Siler of Wynnewood High School won for “Rear View Mirror,” and Bethel High School students Travis Farasyn and Jamie Kiest won for “Dream Catcher.”

In the junior high division, three pieces took awards home. Oklahoma School for the Deaf students Kayla Gregory, Cambria Kennedy, Jenny Miller and Kailob Miller won for their joint work “Man with Crystal Ball.” Lawton Central Junior High students won two awards with Sarah Connywerdy and Ben Christian’s “Homies” and “Cranial Color,” by Mary Salazar, Wayne Stewart, Morayma Perez and Halley Ellis.

The 6th grade and under division awards were given to Altus Intermediate students Matt Wilhite and Chase Garrison for their piece, “Dog.” Cyril Elementary students Jakotah Cocheran and Bridgette Thompson won for “Bambi.”